It is particularly difficult for passengers to disembark from pleasure boats such as those used for waterski boats and runabouts. Disembarkation is particularly difficult from the bow of these types of boats for many reasons among them the following: the user must climb over the windshield on most of these types of boats; the decks of the boat are usually wet and slick; and it is usually a difficult jump from the bow of the boat to the beach often resulting in a landing in shallow water rather than on solid beach.
Previous patents have addressed the problem of disembarking. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,134,999 by W. R. Reynolds a portable gang plank is disclosed. The gang plank is capable of being secured to the side of the boat whereby passengers may step off of the side of the boat onto the gang plank and on down to the beach. In contrast to the present invention, the gang plank in the Reynolds Patent is not a working part of the boat. In the present invention, a portion of the deck itself is used as a ramp. Also, the present invention allows passengers to disembark directly from the bow of the boat nullifying the necessity of disembarking from the side of the boat. When a passenger disembarks from the side of the boat, the passenger must necessarily pass over a longer stretch of water.
Two United States Patents have directed themselves to disembarking from the bow of the boat. In the J. B. Serviss U.S. Pat. No. 825,490 a swinging gang plank which disengages from the bow of the boat is disclosed. However, the swinging gang plank of the Serviss patent is an awkward extension of the bow of the boat and would pose problems to the operator of the boat when confronting waves, for the waves could easily break over the top of the swinging gang plank. As set forth previously, in the present invention, the ramp turns into a functional portion of the deck when the boat is operating and is thereby secured.
In U.S. Pat. No. 47,482 by N. W. Wheeler a gangway is described. In the Wheeler patent, as in the previous patents mentioned, the gangway is not a functional portion of the boat, the gangway in the Wheeler Patent is an addition which lies on the deck and must be pivoted in and out of position. Additionally, the gangway of the Wheeler Patent is more usefully adapted to larger size ships where extra gangways may be more easily stowed than on pleasure boats where space is at a premium.
The disclosed invention is particularly functional when used in stretches of water such as Puget Sound that must contend with tides. In these water, the users of pleasure boats typically do not dock their boats but run the boats up onto a beach with the bow of the boat barely touching the beach and the rest of the boat floating in the water. If the passengers go off the side of the boat they are certain to get wet. If they climb over windshields and over a slippery deck to the bow they face the potential of injury. Once at the bow the passenger must still jump to the beach. This is an impossibility for elderly passengers.
The option of dragging the boat on shore is also not a viable alternative. First, the hull of the boat can be damaged when drug across rocks and barnacles. Secondly, on an incoming tide, after the passengers have visited the shore, the boat will be primarily resting on water rather than beach despite the fact that it was previously drug onto the beach due to the incoming tide.
The present invention allows the passengers to merely walk to the boat of the boat, step onto a ramp and disembark.